I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable communication devices such as wireless telephones. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved portable communication device having an exposed and multifunctional power on/off key.
II. Description of the Related Art
Wireless telephony has become increasingly popular with the general population as costs continue to decrease and service providers continue to expand the nature of the services they provide as well as their geographical coverage. Another aspect of the recent development of wireless telephones which has encouraged their increasing popularity are the tremendous reductions in size and weight, and hence portability, of the telephone handset. This allows the handset to be carried by the user in many convenient locations such as a purse, automobile glove compartment, or jacket pocket. Unfortunately, however, such widespread consumer use and ease of portability leads inevitably to an increase in careless handling and storage of the telephone handset. It is preferable, therefore, for telephone handsets to be made to withstand this careless handling without operating in an undesired fashion.
It can be appreciated that one type of undesirable behavior which a portable telephone handset can exhibit is an inadvertent keypad actuation when the handset is stored. This can lead to accidentally turning the handset on or off, initiating a telephone call or the transmission of other undesired signals, or the performance of electronic functions the user does not actually wish to perform. One serious consequence of such undesired actuation is the premature draining of the handset battery.
Several telephone handset designs have been used or suggested in order to minimize this problem. For example, many of the recently introduced cellular telephone handsets are made to be foldable so that their size can be reduced to as small as possible when the handset is not in use. In the xe2x80x9cflip-phonexe2x80x9d described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,772 to Metroka, et al., for example, the handset keypad, including the on/off button, is covered by the foldable flip portion of the handset when the handset is stored. While it can be appreciated that simply covering the buttons with the flip will provide some protection from inadvertent button actuation, the device described in the Metroka patent disables operation of the on/off switch when the flip is closed. This prevents actuation of the on/off switch when the flip is closed even when a foreign object such as a coin or paper clip is accidentally closed in under the flip.
Devices such as those described in the Metroka et al. patent have at least one significant drawback. It is often convenient for a user to be able to turn the telephone handset on or off without opening the flip portion. This is impossible with the Metroka et al. device. It may be noted that even if the on/off button were accessible with the flip closed, the on/off disable feature of the Metroka et al. device would still require the user to open the flip in order to turn the telephone on or off.
Other functions are also convenient to have available to a user without opening a flip. For example, when an incoming call is received, the user may wish to silence the incoming call alert, and have the call go unanswered, be forwarded to a voice-mail service, or be processed in some other manner defined by the user. It is preferable in this case for the user to be able to silence the alert without opening the flip.
Thus, a need exists for a portable telephone handset which resists inadvertent button actuation, while at the same time allows easy access to certain features which are convenient for the user to be able to utilize quickly and easily.
The present invention is a novel and improved communication device which may advantageously comprise a wireless telephone handset. The improved handset may include a housing and an on/off switch located on an outer surface of the housing wherein the on/off switch is accessible to a user. In some embodiments of the present invention, a key of the handset can include features which may help resist initiation of undesired handset functions. Accordingly, one embodiment of the present invention comprises a portable communication apparatus comprising an on/off switch and a control circuit coupled to the on/off switch. The control circuit may be configured to control the on/off state of circuitry in the portable communication apparatus. Furthermore, the control circuitry may be configured to ignore any actuation of the on/off switch with a duration less than a determined time period.
Embodiments of the present invention also include a wireless telephone comprising a key coupled to control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to perform a first function if the key is depressed for a first duration, and is configured to perform a second function when said key is depressed for a second duration. The present invention further encompasses methods for operating communication devices. For example, one embodiment of the present invention includes a method of controlling the state of a cellular telephone handset comprising the steps of determining a time of depression of a key on the cellular telephone handset, and maintaining a current state of the cellular telephone handset when the time of depression of the key is less than a selected time period.
The present invention may be implemented in a communication device having a multiple function keyswitch. The communication device comprises at least a power key, and a control circuit, coupled to the power key, for sensing an actuation of the power key, and for silencing an alert in response to the actuation of the power key if a duration of the actuation is greater than a first predetermined time period, and for powering said communication device on or off if the duration of the actuation is greater than a second predetermined time period.
The communication device may further comprise a body portion having a front surface, a back surface, and a top surface, with the front surface having a user interface thereon, and the power key disposed on the top surface. Additionally, the communication device may comprise a moveable flip portion secured to the body portion by a hinge at the top surface of the body portion. Optionally, the communication device of Claim 2 wherein said power key is disposed in a recessed portion of said top surface of said body portion to provide even greater resistance to inadvertent actuation. In one embodiment, the moveable flip portion covers the user interface when in a closed position, and the power key remains exposed when the moveable flip portion is in said closed position.